The Substitute
by AnotherGirlWithAStory
Summary: "He's in." James said and patted Fred on the shoulder as he began walking down the corridor. He was quick to apologize when he saw Fred scrunching his face together in pain. Sirius frowned but followed James down the corridor still. "Is he?" "Yes, he's in." Remus replied. "We're three of the four Marauders. Nice to meet you, substitute."


**Title** : The Substitute

 **Characters** : Fred Weasley, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

 **AN** : Written for the _Through Time [Challenge]_ held by SnarkyAndProudHufflepuff. Can be read as a part of _I Promise_ and _Our Mug_.

 **Word Count** : 1, 114

* * *

Molly Weasley used to tell her sons, Fred and George, that wherever they went mayhem followed and that the rooms they occupied looked like warzones once they were done with whatever prank they had planned that time. She also couldn't understand how they got into trouble as often as they did.

Fred wished that he couldn't contradict his mother but after having spent just a few hours in an actual warzone he could tell her that she had been wrong. That was knowledge he would have been happy to spend his entire life not having. The part about the twins bringing mayhem with them could possibly be seen as true. But they were a long way from warzone.

As far as getting into trouble went Fred and George had always made sure that they stayed on the right side of rule breaking. They had never done anything too crazy (not counting what they did when they left school). Fred wished in the seconds before he was struck by something hard that they had. There were so many things they hadn't done due to fear of ending up on the wrong side of that line. Looking back on it Fred wondered why that had bothered them so much. But he didn't get further than that because all of the sudden everything became black and quiet. And then it wasn't anymore.

Fred heard people talking around him. The voices became louder by the second and the pain increased as it spread from his legs to his hips, stomach, arms shoulders and then his head. He didn't know if he had broken any bones but he wouldn't be surprised if he had.

"Is he alive?"

"He's scrunching his face together." Someone responded. "He should be alive."

A loud sigh. "Remember how I just told you that he had a pulse? Yeah well that means he's alive."

Two boys said oh and then the ironic third voice said oh indeed. "There's no need to be snappy Moony. We know nothing about that stuff."

 _Moony_. Fred opened his eyes. Three pair of eyes – hazel, grey and blue coloured - stared back at him.

"I would say this further strengthens our assumption that he is alive." The boy with long brown hair that gracefully fell around his face said. "Hello, I'm Sirius Black. Glasses is James Potter and Scarface is Remus Lupin. What's your name?"

Fred's frown deepened as he looked at the three boys who were looking down on him waiting for an answer. He had gotten in trouble plenty of time before but he was sure that nothing he had done up until that point and nothing he would do after this point would ever be as bad as this was. Most of the time thoughts would begin spinning in his head when he got in trouble but for once his mind was quiet.

"Maybe he hit his head?" James asked Remus. "Should we get him to Madame P?"

"Fred Wea… Granger." He replied quickly and sat up. The movement made the pain more intense and he scrunched his face together. "My name is Fred Granger." _I am so sorry Hemione_ he thought quietly.

"You're not pureblood." Fred shook his head even if Sirius hadn't meant it as a question. "Which house are you in? You're not a Gryffindor, right? I would have remembered if you were."

James coughed. "What my friend here meant to say is that _we_ should have remembered you if you were in Gryffindor because we are too."

Sirius rolled his eyes but didn't comment on it.

"Hey, who were you calling Moony before?" Remus raised his hand and Fred's mouth dropped open. _That little shit probably knew and didn't tell him. He was going to get Harry James Potter once he went back home_. He looked at Sirius and James. "So, are you Padfoot, Prongs or Wormtail?"

Sirius frowned. "Padfoot." He pointed at James. "Prongs. But how do you know that?"

Fred laughed while he on the inside were cursing about the fact that he had been using their map without knowing that the creators he admired so very much had been so close by the entire time. _George was going to kill him_.

"I've heard the rumours." He started. "I go to Ilvermorny because I live with my mum and my brother goes here because he lives with our dad. Anyway, I'm on a holiday and decided to surprise my brother."

"Really?" Sirius and James looked at each other with big smiles. "We've reached across the pond."

They looked at Fred again who nodded. "Oh yes, you've been huge inspirations for me and I've tried to incorporate your style in my own pranks."

Fred almost couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled inside of him when he saw their reactions. Much like peacocks Sirius and James pushed their chests out while Remus managed to keep his pride at a minimum; but he still wasn't completely able to hide it.

"A fellow prankster, how lovely. Let's help the man up fellows, can't have him sitting on the floor all day long." James said and offered Fred his hand. "We also happen to have a busy day ahead of us which means that we can't stay here the entire day either."

"Where are you going?" Fred asked as he began moving around to get some feeling back into his body.

Sirius laughed. "Where are we going?"

"Everywhere." Remus replied quickly with as much eagerness as the other two were clearly showing.

Fred frowned. "Everywhere?"

"Everywhere!" James, Sirius and Remus replied at the same time. It was a strange sight, Fred thought, to see them like that. Remus face were far from as scared as Fred was used to it being, there were no darkness in Sirius eyes and James Potter was more than a smiling face on a photograph. He was alive.

Fred laughed. "To pull pranks I suppose?" He looked around him. "How are you going to do that without your fourth man?"

James laughed. "We can pull a prank without our fourth man."

"Okay, I'm still going to offer you my services." Fred mock-bowed in front of them. "It would be an honour to be included in your plans."

"He's in." James said and patted Fred on the shoulder as he began walking down the corridor. He was quick to apologize when he saw Fred scrunching his face together in pain.

Sirius frowned but followed James down the corridor still. "Is he?"

"Yes, he's in." Remus replied before James could and followed the two down the corridor with Fred next to him. "We're three of the four Marauders. Nice to meet you, substitute."

 **The end**


End file.
